The Silent Killer of Solo Role Play
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- In this video I ramble about what is killing your solo role play. Or maybe just mine! It’s something we all have to deal with and something only some of us overcome. I give a little insight as to what I think can help this, but I definitely would love to know if you have any input on how to deal with this issue.Feel free to leave feedback in the comments! Thank you for watching!
#shadowdark #solorpg #dnd #solottrpg #ttrpg #beginners #play #solo #tabletop #guide #UVG #UVG2e #howto #dungeonsanddragons
The idea that got me to overcome paralysis of running dungeons solo was this one:
Play as the GM and run the PCs as if a simulation of what players would do using ORACLE and PROMPTS, etc… remember that its players we are simulating not PCs.
As the GM, you know the dungeon layout, read the descriptions and flavour text, know where the traps and secrets are then see what the Players do. Any meta knowledge should be rolled for.
I like to grant ADVANTAGE or DISADVANTAGE on checks given the situation or their training, etc…
I’ve had a blast employing this mindset so far and I really think it was a lightbulb moment when I heard the concept. I hope this helps others overcome the non-starter issues.
That’s extremely insightful! Thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely make note of this and try to implement it myself.
First of all, I must confess that your videos are the reason for (1) me starting solo playing (2) finding this pearl with the name "ShadowDark". Thank you for both. So, about the theme of the video... I try not to anticipate anything, which means that I don't pre-build the challenges, I make them as I go, using random encounters or the oracle. if you prepare things in advance, you'll probably, at some point, "feel pity" for you characters and go easy on them... As for me, for example, "I" (which means the random dice results) already killed 3 of my characters. And now? Well, make another 10 of them and try again!!! And again! Gresstings from Portugal and keep up the good work! (PS - sorry for any mistake, my English is not as good as I would like).
Thank you so much for taking the time to give your thoughts! I'm glad you're having such a good time with solo play. I think you're right. Making things as you go really keeps things fresh. I will likely do that as I continue more often (even rolling up the dungeon as I play it) but I wanted to give it a shot without that. I love your mentality on continuing to move forward! Thanks for commenting! Your English was great!
Love the content! keep it up! you were a huge inspiration for me in my solodark journey!
That means a lot! I hope you've been enjoying it!
GREAT TOPIC!!! My number one problem is feeling like I'm "playing wrong/cheating/unbalanced".
I’m right there with you!
One of the reasons I play rpgs in general is facing fears and anxieties of people not enjoying what I create. Therefore, NO excuses. Face those fears!
Sir yessir!
Just started my solo journey about 2 weeks ago. Love that you’re starting out too. The unknown is hard and wanting it to be good or be ‘perfect’ is a big obstacle.
Something that’s pushing me through is the idea that maybe I just need to start small and build momentum. I tried Scarlet Heroes and then Ironsworn but they just were too much for me (for now at least) so I am trying Miru right now and it’s really fun! It’s more of a planned adventure/hex crawl but I think that’s what I need to start and can get more open and unstructured once I get a taste and decide if solo is for me and if build the habit of sitting down for a solo adventure. Just a thought. Keep up the good work 👍
Thanks for sharing! I hope you’ve been having a great time! I do think starting small is important for sure. It keeps the scope of things manageable. I’ve just been going session by session with running this dungeon being the first big daunting thing. I’m looking forward to everything I learn! Thanks for watching and sharing!
I know it feels like it sucks to realize that we are in our own way, but it's very important that we do realize that. Now we know what or who we are dealing with. We are in our own way. What are we going to do about it?
This quote inspires (and sometimes drags) me to get off my butt and do the things:
"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."
- Marcus Aurelius
It really is important we realize that! Thanks for that thought. And the inspiring quote!
I think my issue is depression.
I may be able to relate to that :thinking:
🫂 Depression is hard. For me, it's like a weighted blanket on my mind and body. I just have to find things that can help me pull the blanket off. I'll be starting my solo play this Friday. I hope you start soon too! take care
I get that! I hope that fog can lift a little for you to enjoy the things you are looking to enjoy. Whatever that might be. I appreciate you taking time to watch and leave a comment. It certainly brightens my day! Have a good one!
I’ve run a UVG campaign for a group. I learned there’s a lot of letting go you have to do when running it. It’s built to wing it and make stuff up on the fly, which is a very different philosophy than a lot of the current OSR (especially Shadowdark) way of writing with a priority for clarity.
I have definitely picked up on that as I have looked into it! It kind of takes me back to when I first started running games and just wanted the story to happen and had no idea about the rules. It will take some getting used to, but I think it is a fascinating world. Were you able to run it through to completion with your group?
@@TTRPJared Yeah we were able to run a decent little arc all the way from the Violet City to the Black City. I wasn't 100% sure what to expect with these players (friends first, then started playing with UVG as the first adventure), but I learned they like a bit more direction than the openness of UVG provides, so I added plenty of hooks to get them moving west.
I think it's more well-suited for players that want to take their time and mess with the sandbox, which suits solo play well.
But we may revisit it as a group eventually to specifically explore the areas they didn't get to spend as much time in. And if not, I'll probably get the itch to revisit it solo eventually.
That's so cool! And really good insight as well on the group type that is works for. My ideal situation would be to run it and play it solo so I get a taste of both sides.
How long did it take you to run it all the way through?
My advice:
First read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft.. A LOT of his heroes die horrible deaths. That should prepare you for killing off your characters.
Next consider your characters. How would they behave in a normal set of circumstances.
Now look at that trap that YOU prepared. How concealed is it?
So with that in mind, your party goes down the hall.
Harrald the short-lived swaggers down the hall. "Nothing to hurt us here."
Light Fingers Sue, the rouge follows a lot slower and using a probing stick.
Make perception checks and if they fail, the trap does its job.
But to keep it fair, Sue's caution may work against her in social situations.
By the way, does somebody want to heal Harrald from the impalements?)
Great advice! Thanks for sharing! I have a peppermint… will that heal him?
I suggest looking at Guy's How to be a Great GM. He created an acronym OGAST for NPCs so they could run themselves. Use it for solo. Also, make a list of standard behaviors for the PC, like does is he cautious, how does he check?, does he use a 10' pole to probe. This could change as he becomes more experienced.
This is really helpful! I will try to make note of what each of my characters would do in certain situations on their character cards. I feel like that will be extremely useful! Thanks for sharing!
My excuse is that of exhaustion, family stuff and ADHD. It’s out of sight and out of mind. I’m at a point I have to force myself to get out of my funk. Then when I do I go down a rabbit hole of side quests than getting to do what started lol. Too many distractions
Sometimes those distractions lead to some fun discoveries! I hope you keep finding time!
Play for yourself, play because YOU want to play. Do not worry about what we think. If we have been around this long, we are here for the long haul. And if someone does not like how you run a game, they can go to another SOLO player's page. Honestly for me, I want to just see how you solo RP and what comes from it. (did that just sound lude to anyone???? LOL!) You know what I mean. Just embrace the game. hast why you are doing this in the first place, right??? So YOU Jared, can have fun. Fudiack everyone else. If you are having fun, that's all that matters.
Now go man, go!!
You’re totally right! These videos are a byproduct of me exploring and finding what works for me, so I appreciate the feedback! And especially the feedback like this reminding me of the most important thing… it’s my game! Thank you as always!
My excuse is that i want to play with my *own* ruleset and i'm not sure if it's (or ever will be) in a state that i'm happy with.
Keep putting the work into it! I’m sure it will be great given time and testing!
Here are the things that have caused me difficulty:
I initially struggled with the *how*; do I talk out loud, playing the roles of all the characters talking to each other? Do I just imagine it quietly in my head? Do I write everything out like a novel, or just in point form? Ultimately, it's any, all, or none of those.
But the main problem is that I am a writer. I love writing and telling stories. I was a GM for 95% of my gaming experience. Playing solo feels somewhat... pointless. Stories are meant to be shared, but I am only telling this story to myself. It's like painting something and then putting it in the closet where no one can see it. Sure, some will paint for the joy of it, but art, like stories, is better when shared.
I totally understand that! I have really enjoyed sharing what is happening in my games to friends and on here. I think having community to share those stories with is fun. But at the end of the day, I’ll always want to be sitting around a table with my friends exploring stories! This is the next best thing for me though! Thanks for your insight!
I found getting rid of nearly all ttrpgs I had that were designed specifically for solo play and went back to using rules I really know well helped me a lot.
I like that! That is one thing I enjoy about Shadowdark so far is that I really understand it. I haven’t been slowed down too much by rules I’m unfamiliar with that way!
It's the set up and administration me. Some of these games have way too much to manage to be enjoyable and some take up quite a lot if space and make it difficult to set aside when I want to be done. Ironsworn has been the best system for me. Everything you need as far as rules is contained in as little as a single book. You don't even really need the asset cards since there are alternate tag rules to simplify the layout.
The other excuse used to be time. I play a lot more video games because I can jump in and out in as little as 20 minutes and there's no set up or break down. I've since realized that playing a solo adventure game on the table top can be just as fast. A single scene to move the Action along is all it takes and much of the solo experience can extend to idle thinking of what you want to do next.
Yeah. It really comes down to just doing instead of wanting.
That's great stuff! I'm glad you found a system that makes it easy to get in and get to the fun. I think a lot of people can relate to that one. And I love what you were saying about hopping in and doing a scene. I think a lot of people think you have to play a super long session like normal TTRPGs. But you're right! It is something you can just pop into a scene for and be done for the session. Great insights!
I just started solo roleplaying and I use Dungeon Crawl Classics and play through adventures they have. It's easy for me to ignore what I know and figure out what I would do. I love coming up with interesting ways to outsmart monsters and make traps inoperable.❤😊
That’s awesome! I’ve seen some of their stuff and it looks really fun!
For me, it's learning the rules, the crunch. I may try just using something SUPER simple like Mythic GME One Page to play through the pre-written adventure of a new game. That way I can PLAY without having the delaying factor of learning the rules of a new game. I can work on learning all the rules and crunch over time.
I don’t think I have checked out the 1 pager! That sounds nice!
@TTRPJared Mythic's website also has that they're developing a Mythic Micro, a compilation of all their Mythic One Page supplements, Mythic One Page, One Page Character Crafter, One Page Location Crafter, etc. I'm super excited about that! Mythic GME 2e is a bit complicated for me. I looking forward to all the One Page resources all together in one place.
I think at some point if you want to play an rpg bad enough and no one to play with at that moment.. playing solo is a natural progression. Or if your like me i don't want to play online a game that is played at a table with paper and pencils and maps and snacks and drinks. Maybe i just haven't fully become an adult yet....
Right on! I’m right there with you on the “not fully becoming an adult yet” part!
My biggest excuse is that I lack the mental energy to sustain the game.
I play with only physical materials and pretty sparse ( notebook, pens, pencils, dice, tarot deck, and Everspark by Cezar Capacle as my system).
I make everything up as I go and sometimes hit a point of being unsure how to progress. So i just stop and don't play for a few days or weeks.
I also get very tired because I tend to play right before bed while laying down, which has been a nice ritual and difference from reading or scrolling on a phone.
That all makes total sense! I have noticed that solo play is especially draining. Maybe a week between each session is a good way to break it up. Or some other measurement to avoid burn out. Keep it up!
Analysis paralysis and perfectionism are two things that keep me from pursuing activities that are important to me. The excuse I use is not enough uninterrupted time. 😢
I am right there with you! That kept my from getting started for a while. Time is a valid excuse. I hope you can find some time here soon to play!
you killed this video!! keep up the good work. Drinking water right now
Drink it up, Chicken man!
Also, for me, it's dealing with multiple things. First and foremost, limited physical and mental energy due to disabling chronic illness. Some days I just can't do much physically or mentally. Brain fog is frustrating. Another thing for me with starting with solo rpg's is lacking imagination as an adult. To help with that I rolled all my actions, decisions, characters, NPC's, basically everything, go rolled on Oracle tables. That helped my imagination start to spark again. I hadn't used it in many, many years. Figuring out what game(s) I actually want to play. Honestly, I'm not all that into combat, battles, dungeon crawls, etc. So I settled on Apothecaria (witch creating potions for patients) and My Little Pony Tails of Equestria and the newer, nore crunchier RPG from Renegade. The whole premise of My Little Pony is friendship, problem solving, etc so there's less actual combat type stuff, if any. I've gotten a few others that aren't combat based to try eventually too. My ADHD tendency to get distracted by all the side stuff, learning about gaming, dice collecting, collection completionistic issues like wanting to get all the info/books/etc BEFORE actually doing anything, figuring out how to do session notes in a way that works for me with my limitations...
I'm slowly sorting my way through it. I've played some sessions of Apothecaria now. Next I'm gonna work on trying My Little Pony. Lesrning the rules and crunch are holding me back on those. I may try using something SUPER simple like Mythic GME One Page instead of the actual rules/crunch while I learn those. We'll see...
The physical limitations can definitely be upsetting and control how much you can do, but I hope that you can really get into those games you’ve got! The crunch gets in my head too, but those sound like fun games if you can get started. You’ve got this!
@@TTRPJared Thanks so much!
My issue is understanding how to handle a pre-mapped/stocked dungeon, and keeping my knowledge of it separate from PC decisions without being utterly random (ie they make rational choices).
I still can't do that and separate it from immersing in it as an experience with any kind of narration
Yeah, I think I am going to struggle with that for a while! I think someone in the comments (@JeffreyJibson) made a solid suggestion that you can make a list of standard behaviors for your characters so if they approach a situation you know generally what they do. I think I am going to experiment with that.
The only time I had a character die in a solo campaign was just from a one on one battle. She was technically supposed to be doing a medium level encounter, but rolled terribly. I ended up using her as an actual character since she participated in two solo campaigns and had a set backstory.
I gave my actual DM permission to kill off my character's brother, and I thought he had done it off screen. Unfortunately, he just did a very brutal body reveal for me. It turned me off of that campaign entirely.
I literally had to do a one page campaign bringing back all three characters I'd had her do solo campaigns with just to make me feel better. The game has since moved and I have learned to never use characters related to each other in actual games and solo campaigns. I just get too attached.
It sounds weird, but if it wasn't for having a solo playing background, I think I would have stopped playing. I like being able to give my characters a bit of closure.
I get that! We can definitely grow attached to something/someone we have created and feel like we know intimately. I have mostly DM'd but I have seem similar attachment even with NPCs I create. I guess I feel similarly with my solo characters, but I also did my best to not create to intricate of back stories or anything that would keep me too connected. Keep up the good work!
Keeping hydrated and hitting that like button
Free pass to be a kid again!
I'm hope you enjoyed your free pass! And I hope adulthood hasn't been too rough since you returned. Thanks for watching the vid!
Literally just picked this up for the same reasons!
That's awesome! I hope you enjoy it!
What do you think of the game Cy Börg by Free League? I just ordered it because I wanted a good cyberpunk type game.❤😊
I’ve seen a few things about it, but haven’t done in-depth research! You’ll have to let me know how it goes and if it is something you would recommend! I hope it is awesome!
Drink the Colville magazine water, eh? Will I get hairier and more inclined toward generalized lectures toward the entire hobby and an inclination to transform the entire thing into a board game? :winking_face:
... but it sounds like you've got some real OCD on this. I don't get where the anxiety could come from for solo rping. Hell is pretty much when you're depressed and anxious at the same time, as they say; any way to disconnect the depression (for lack of a better word) from the anxiety? Maybe this is actually just YT video creation anxiety. I definitely don't get how a complicated setting book has to do with it.
My personal situation is pretty FUBAR. No physical copies of any gaming materials. Interrupted personal time. Physically uncomfortable space for gaming. Stress and depression of my own getting in the way of establishing a regular routine of just about any sort.
Random tables help a lot with the total unknown... but that's in regard to exploring a game setting blind. Seeing what something is like more generally, while it isn't known... I don't really have a problem with that, generally just excuses and distraction and interruption of rhythm .
I think I'd have better results if I made it so that there's no choice. Burn the proverbial boats. Do a live video of me starting solo play BLIND and unprepared.
I actually drank the Flee Mortals! water and received a sticker... but I did get hairier!
I think I do have some OCD when it comes to this situation! I get caught up in the idea that I have to create perfect things. So I think that applies to my games and some of the video making side. The setting book situation is more of a related issue where I get analysis paralysis and never get started with the thing I want because I get in my own way!
That is pretty tough. Physical copies are pretty huge to streamline things for me as well. And the space, mental stress, and interruptions make it really hard. I hope you can get some more free time soon to spend an the things you enjoy!
I agree about the random tables. I think you should go for the live video and just see what happens! Thanks for the comment!
My excuse is that I'm not a total fucking loser who plays games that inherently require social interaction by himself.
Pretty solid excuse if you want to use it! I feel like the “inherently require social interaction” bit is a tad off given what I have seen. Given there are solo rule sets and ways to play very beloved “multiplayer” games solo, I think it must fall into more of a preference category for some. I hope you’re out there doing the things you love!